Sorry, it has been over 6 years since our international move. We used Wiesenhut (sp) and I cannot find it on Google so I must be spelling it wrong.

Otherwise my sister brought some books with her when she visited. Wil your mom visit you? Extra baggage fee may be cheaper than shipping them.

Otherwise for reading to your son, you could go the Kindle route. Amazon has free ones in English for kids or other online sites have them or pdf ones. If u need titles, pls let me know. I know it is not the same as him holding the books himself though...

M-Bags have funky rules though, if you haven't used them before, you really need to talk with someone at USPS or your PO who has experience with them. Most PO employees have no idea what an M-Bag even is. I think you have to divvy all of the books up into smaller boxes of 4 pounds or less. You need a special M-Bag tag.

I've come close to using them a few times, but it always ended up being worth it to pay a little extra for a flat rate box.

They're nowhere near $600, not sure if you were exaggerating or not. You're looking at ~$50 for an M-Bag. I haven't heard anything about them being phased out, and even if they are, they are available now.

I have multiple boxes of books to ship over a few hundred pounds. I have about 6 avon boxes full of book, that would be at least 15 flat rate boxes at 60 dollars per box and the size is very restrictive, so not likely to get anywhere near 20 pounds worth of books in such a small box.

The m bag goes by weight if you are looking at 20 pounds of books it is closer to 150 per m bag not 50 dollars.

But the M bags are being phased out, by weight is now a cheaper option.

I am looking to ship a whole library or books for my kids hundreds of books, not just a few paper backs. Hence looking into commercial shipping companies.

My mom went to the post and was told it was more to send via m bag closer to 150 versus by weight at around 120 for 20 pounds. Ill ask her to check again.

International shipping is not cheap we pay 80 to 130 each time I get a box from home.

With the amount I want to send even m bags if as cheap as you claim would be over 500, but the website I just pulled up for pricing charts was not 50 dollars for 20 pounds of books to germany the lowest weight starts at 40 dollars.

SO the comment about exageration really upsets me. I have looked into this and I have compared buying books form the UK.

IN the end even if I spend 120 per box for 20 pound of books it is cheaper then buying here or from the UK, I was just looking for a cheaper option. Nothing more.

M-Bags to Germany start at $39.60 for 11 pounds or less. Each additional pound is $3.60.

An M-Bag is literally a giant bag that they put the boxes of books in. You print the address on each box, and then there is a special M-Bag tag that goes on the outside of the bag. The maximum weight is 66 pounds. I _think_ each box within the bag has to weigh 4 pounds or less, you are charged for the total weight of the sack once everything is in it.

So 20 pounds of books to Germany would cost $72. A full 66 pound bag would be $237.60

You can see the price chart here: http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/notice123.htm#1118694 Germany is in price group 5. The restrictions on M-Bags are here: https://www.usps.com/ship/airmail-mbags.htm Not all post offices keep M-Bags in stock, so your mom would need to give them a heads up that she was going to be using this method. If she lives near a small PO, she may want to use a larger one if she went with an M-Bag. Most smaller POs have never dealt with them. Most clerks at a larger PO never have either, she may need to deal with a manager or postmaster.

Interestingly enough, 20 pounds pounds shipped Priority Mail would cost $81.65 while 66 pounds would cost $175.95... and you could send it in one massive box (instead of a zillion small ones) and it would get there faster and have some sort of tracking. So I guess you'd have to compare the weights and charts and see what's worth it.

Maybe you could try to buy the heaviest from within Europe, and ship the smaller books? 20 pounds of children's books is a LOT of books.

Are you in Germany permanently? That would be a lot of books to have to get back to the states someday.

It sounds like you're really into books... you might want to check out bookmooch.com, there is a good amount of international trading there, I have sent and received books to and from Germany before. I am the opposite of you, I live in the US and use Bookmooch to get German-language books for my kid. But it's way more cost effective for me with the cheap media mail rate in the US, I don't know how it would be with the high cost of european postage. You get three points for any books you send internationally, and one point for any book sent within your country.